School boards in gun for generosity to principals

By SHARON LUNDY

Forty-six secondary school boards of trustees appear to have made illegal payments to their principals totalling $210,000, an investigation has revealed.

The payments covered cars, expense allowances, and retirement "gifts" of $10,000.

Auditor-General Kevin Brady yesterday released a report detailing an investigation, and the Ministry of Education is now reviewing whether it is possible to recover any of the money.

The probe began over concerns surrounding one school and a special audit was carried out.

The results led to a wider investigation in the 2002 school year, looking at 400 boards and finding 119 payments.

The Audit Office said it believed 46 boards had breached the Education Act by making payments without Education Ministry approval.

The 62 payments were worth a total of at least $210,000, and none met the ministry's criteria. They would probably not have been allowed had approval been sought.

"In that case, the payments should not have been made under any circumstances."

The investigation also looked at payments to 54 principals through the ministry's central payroll system.

It found 45 had received payments with ministry approval which totalled $458,343 but a further nine had received a total of $63,217 without the necessary approval.

Those payments included a $10,600 rebate on the rental of a principal's residence, $10,500 for acting as a support officer for international fee-paying students and, in one case, annual "extra pay" of nearly $6000.

Auditor-General's Office spokeswoman Pania Gray said the schools involved were not identified as anonymity had been agreed to secure cooperation.

The ministry had received the findings last July and had taken some time to act.

It was now considering whether recovery of some of the payments was warranted or possible.

The investigation also identified three instances where a principal was paid $10,000 to $11,000 in performance bonuses and three where retiring principals received gifts worth more than $10,000.

"The ministry considers that performance is factored into the remuneration formula in the collective employment agreements and that it is unlikely to approve the payment of bonuses," the report said.

"In addition, we believe that retirement gifts of the size noted are excessive and are out of step with wider community expectations for the responsible use of funds."

Ministry spokeswoman Frances Kelly said boards had been reminded of their responsibilities, and the ministry was "in discussion" with the Crown Law Office over the recovery of unauthorised payments.

Extra payments

School boards made 119 payments worth $500 to $23,000 to principals, an Audit Office inquiry found. They included:

$23,000 for time spent implementing a video conferencing project for the school.

An expense allowance of $577 a fortnight.

A travel subsidy of $850 a month for 12 months.

A $10,000 performance bonus.

Motor vehicle expenses - one school leased a car for the principal to use at all times at a cost of $9000 a year.

A clothing allowance of $1500 a year.

- NZPA